


Nightmare

by SuperTeenWizard



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Awkward situations, Embarassment, Fluff, M/M, More preslash than slash, Nightmare, Panic Attacks, shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 22:02:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9404801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperTeenWizard/pseuds/SuperTeenWizard
Summary: Nico wakes up from a nightmare and shadow travels to the safest place he can think of in his panic - wherever Will is at the time. Awkwardness ensues.





	

The Hades cabin was dark and tense. The neon green numbers displayed on Nico's clock's face read 6.33 and washed the bedside table it was sitting on and the Hades mythomagic figurine in the place of pride in an eerie glow.

In one of the numerous ~~coffins~~ beds lay Nico di Angelo, he was sweating copiously and his long eyelashes fluttered  with the restless motions of his chocolate eyes which tracked infinite monsters only he could see.

Without warning the young Italian's eyes burst open and he jolted upright; he was gasping and only barely getting enough air to his lungs. In a matter of seconds he was leaping from the bed into a shadow with only one thought in his head: Get to safety.

 

**

 

Will, as he was a child of Apollo, always woke up with the sun, which meant that by 6.30 most mornings he was in the already in the shower and happily singing his heart out (his siblings had gotten Lou Ellen to create a silence charm around the room for this reason, the gift of song was not one he had inherited from his father. Although the spell did allow Will to be louder whilst partaking in other shower activities, which was a plus.).

This particular fine morning Will was channelling his inner Taylor Swift belting out 'you belong with me' at the top of his lungs with a particular son of Hades in his mind.

Halfway through the second verse he was interrupted by a sudden crash sound and a high pitched yelp from behind him. Will spun around, adrenaline instantly being pumped into  his veins like wildfire.

"NICO?!?!?!?" He gasped dramatically, slipping over in the flow of hot water and landing on his bare ass in front of his crush. Who was looking around him in a mix of emotions that flitted across his face to fast to comprehend.

Seeing the tense lines of his body and the way he seemed to be barely breathing, Will rushed to comfort him. He didn't understand even slightly what was going on, but he did know that Nico needed his help and so he  he would offer comfort in whatever way he could.

"Neeks, I need you to take a deep breath with me. Okay, angel?" Will didn't dare touch Nico - though his arms were shaking with the need to wrap around the smaller boy - because he didn't know if it would be welcome, so he just hastily shut the water off and crouched, dripping, by Nico's side as he breathed deeply and instructed the other to try and keep in time.

After what seemed to be an eternity of hyperventilation and panic (but in reality was probably only five or so minutes) Nico was breathing closer to what was natural and didn't seem so terrified.

"Nico?" Will asked again, a lot more calmly this time. The words seemed to bring Nico back to the present and in a sudden flash of movement he was hugging the still damp (and naked) son of Apollo.

Will wrapped his arms consolingly around the Italian and stroked up and down his bare arms - he was wearing a completely black (no surprise there) soft cotton shirt and dark boxers with a pattern of skulls and coffins. In any other situation, the way Nico's damp clothes were plastered to his skin and how he himself was completely unclothed with the other boy on his lap would have been infinitely distracting to Will, but in the circumstances all he could think about was comforting his favourite camper.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly, suspecting it had something to do with the semi-frequent nightmares the boy got. Nico curled up closer to Will and gripped him tightly around the waist.

"Nightmare," the son of Hades whispered tensely in response, proving Wills suspicions. "It- it was a lot worse than normal, kept shuffling around all my bad memories in repeat over and over again. Never giving me a chance to calm down.

"One second I would be in Tartarus, fighting endless monsters, then Percy would tell me Bianca wa- was dead," his voice cracked on the last word and he sobbed into Wills chest, struggling to catch his breath again. Will made soothing sounds and kept stroking him, but didn't interrupt. "Then, I would be in the jar with no light or food, slowly suffocating, then I would see my mother struck down by lightning and before the after flash of light had left my vision I would be back in Tartarus fighting for my life and it just kept happening. Over and over and over...."

"Your safe now Nico," Will reassured the younger boy, his heart was breaking at the recounting of just a few of the horrors Nico had experienced and he had to restrain the urge to scream at the fates and never ever let this scared boy leave his arms, "I wont let anyone else hurt you, Angel. Your safe."

Nico's heart rate had started to slow again when he resumed talking. "It just kept going on," his words were so quiet now that the child of Apollo had to strain his ears to hear, "Until I was once more in Tartarus but it was different: There were no beast trying to kill me, no screams piercing the air, no sounds at all, just suffocating silence. Stillness.

"It was the most scared I had been the whole time because I knew, I just _knew_ , that something horrible was behind me. But not knowing what it was was worse so I turned around, and at first I was confused because I couldn't see any massive beasts or anything but then I saw something worse."

Nico took a deep breath and stared at the wet blue tiles in front of him before restarting in an even more haunted voice. "I heard a quiet whimper of pain and looked down and saw a body. It looked more broken then anything I have ever seen before, sprawled on the ground like a puppet that had suddenly had its strings cut, with blood seeping out of hundreds of wounds. There were so many that it took me a few seconds to realise the body was human bu- but when I did I instantly dropped to my knees and turned it over and..."

Tears were once more streaming heavily down Nico's face when he turned in Will's lap and looked at him in the eyes, taking the American boys face delicately in his cold hands,"It was this face I saw when I turned it over and... that scared me more than anything else ever has in my life. Seeing your blue eyes staring at me lifelessly like they never should and blood painting your lips red it just-"

The son of Hades buried his head in Will's neck. "That's when I woke up. And I was so scared that the only thing I could think of was getting somewhere safe and- well. You know the rest."

"And the safe place your panicked brain thought of was the Apollo cabin's shower?" Will asked teasingly, taking refuge, as he often did, in humour. Nico blushed and punched him lightly in the arm, looking around, seeming to only just truly take on where he was, "I- I think it wasn't so much _where_ would be safest as _who_ woul- WAIT, SHOWERS?!?!?"

Will laughed out loud at Nico as he jumped up from Wills naked lap blushing furiously and stammering out apologies, all with a hand slapped over his eyes. Will got up and wrapped a bright yellow  towel from the rack just out side the cubical door around his waist. "Its okay, Angel. I _was_ going to say something but...." Nico nodded embarrassedly with a hand still over his eyes, protecting Wills modesty, "You can look now Nico."

The younger boy slowly took a hand away from his eyes and took in Wills towel with visible relief. “I really am sorry Will, I didn’t realize an-"

“Nico, its fine.” The son of Apollo replied with a fond smile – Nico was always far more modest than almost anyone else from the camp as he was from a much more conservative time and it never failed to amuse his friends, “I get it. And plus this will be a great story to tell the others.”

Nico groaned, “Don’t you dare tell Percy or Jason, they will tease me for years.” Will just laughed at him as they moved into the Apollo cabins main room.

Nico jumped up onto Wills bunk and waited as the other boy got changed. "Alright, you can look now Neeks," Will said after a few seconds, "You wanna head to breakfast now?"

"Sure," the son of hades replied and he jumped down, "Can we go to my cabin first though? I'm still wearing my pyjamas."

"Of course, Angel" 

"Will!" Nico complained for the thousandth time, as they walked across the grass, "I told you to stop calling me that! I am the ghost king, son of Hades, summoner of the dead! Not an angel."

"You are definitely an angel, Neeks, you just can't see it yet. But don't worry, that's what you have me for." Nico sighed forlornly at that but Will wasn't offended because a second later the Italian hesitantly linked their fingers together.

At that moment Will made a promise to himself: he would spend the rest of his life trying to show Nico how much Will cared about him and convince the younger boy that he deserved so much more than he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it. Constructive criticism and comments are always appreciated.


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